TTT: Hopes for 2021

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. There is a new topic each week for bloggers to join in with their own top ten. If you’re looking for some new or different book blogs to read, hop on over to her site and check out some of the links.

Technically, this week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic is Resolutions/Hope for 2021. I’ve found that the word “resolution” is too much pressure for me. Seriously. Especially now. I prefer to look at my goals as hopes.

My list today is a mix of bookish and non-bookish hopes.

Throne of Glass Series

Inspired by Kira’s post over the weekend, I’m hoping to finish the Throne of Glass series. I’ve read the first two books more than once, and book 3 I’ve read once. I actually really love this series and have all of the books on my Kindle, so I just have to carve out the time re-read the first 3 books and finish the rest of the series.

Do Not Finish

I’ve mentioned before that I struggle with leaving a book once I start the book. I have had even less time than I used to for my reading so I really need to get serious about this one. It’s okay to DNF a book. I know that on a rational level. But it’s just so hard for me, I always think it’ll get better.

Timely Reviews

Since I do a large portion of my reading at night in bed, I finish a large number of books late at night. I always have the intention of writing my review the next day, but that rarely happens. I get swept up into the next book and put off the review. I shouldn’t get stressed about this, but I personally like having a review to look back at when deciding if I’m going to read the next in a series or if it’s an author I don’t read as often.

Unplug

I, like a lot of Americans, have a love/hate relationship with social media and the news. Where I am not often on Facebook, I do scroll Twitter a lot. Especially this past year, for obvious reasons. When I take a day or two off, I feel a lot of my anxiety go away. But then I get a sense of not feeling prepared since the news is changing hourly these days. I know that’s not healthy for my mental state. I know things won’t magically be better on January 20, but I’m hoping things will start to at least calm down soon after. That should help me take a break from all news, main stream or in the realm of social media, at least one day a week.

Yoga

I’ve already started the year off strong with this one, but know from past experience that I can easily lose my momentum. I absolutely LOVE yoga, but it has fallen on the wayside lately. I am hoping to get yoga into my life at least three days a week. It can be a quick 5 minute breathing or stretching type of thing, or an hour long intense session. Doesn’t matter, as long as I keep at it. Right now I’m doing a 30 day challenge. I’ll be truthful, I’ve missed 2 days so far since I started on the 2nd of this month. But that’s still pretty good. And, on top of my hope to do more yoga, I’ve promised not to chastise myself when I have days I just am not feeling it at all.

Walking

This kind of goes along with the yoga. Really, since I had my health scare back in March with the PE, I haven’t gotten back to where I was back then. I was, by no means, the picture of health. But I need to get more serious with my commitment to make healthy choices. That means finding time to take a walk at least two times a week. Yes, that’s hard in Michigan in the winter. It’s by no means impossible, though. I’d like to get my stamina back. It would be a wonderful bonus if I actually lost a few pounds, but that’s not my goal at this time. I need to be able to keep up with my grandbaby as she gets faster on her feet!

Office

What is considered my office in our house has been through many stages. Back when we first bought this house we rented out the room to a friend because our youngest wasn’t quite ready to have his own room. Then it was a bedroom for our youngest for many years. Eventually it became a spare room we kept very basic for when my mother-in-law was in town for doctor appointments. At the end of her life, she lived with us for a while and it was her room. After she passed, that room became a sort of “junk room” catchall place for some of her things we were keeping but didn’t have a place for. It got cleaned out to a certain extent when my son and family moved in with us for a while, but the baby was too young to sleep so far away from them so it never fully got cleaned out. We knew it would be my office, but have so many other things that have higher priority that need to be done around here. I had wanted to, at the very least, rip up a very disgusting carpet and slap some paint on the walls. (It’s currently red, white and black for the Detroit Red Wings.) You guys, I work out of this room right now and it’s not pretty. There’s no desk. I use a banquet style folding table. I steal my husband’s office chair because I don’t have one of my own. There are boxes of paperwork all over. It’s not pretty. I really hope to get some basic organization and cleaning up done in that room soon.

Another thing I need to do better with is my need for completion. Like here…it’s Top Ten Tuesday so I feel I have to have 10 things. I do not. But it’s hard for me to let that go. Same with a book series. If I start a series and enjoy it at the beginning, I find a hard time quitting the series if it goes down hill. So, in the spirit of letting things go, I’m stopping my list at seven. That may seem trivial, but it’s very hard for me. Especially once I realized it was such an odd number! Ugh!